The De Havilland Mosquito

[Music] possessed of an overwhelming desire to fly you have it Havilland left the motor industry in 1908 and set about building an aeroplane he was joined by another young engineer named Frank pearl their first machine came to brief but around the undamaged engine these two men built an improved aeroplane and on this de Havilland taught himself to fly these experiments led to a series of combat aircraft for the first great travel Germany notably the dh4 high-performance bomber the th nine and nine a Baba reconnaissance built in vast numbers and a larger aircraft intended for bombing German industry the th 10 by 1918 a third of the Allied air force and 95 percent of all the American production where machines of de Havilland design for 20 years a team concentrated on civil aircraft the DHD for cross channel liner of 1922 the D H 50 irony route of empire census the moth set alight aeroplane standard the Hercules for the caravan dad airway [Music] the puss ma a private travel and 20 miles to the gallon a tiger moth trainer of the Empire the dragon for light traffic without subsidy the dh8 is six for the Imperial Mail Singapore to Brisbane the little comet Victor in the Great Race to Australia the dragon repeat champion of economy with the small load the albatross liner of 1938 which cut the London to Paris time to within the are the Flamingo all metal liner which first appeared on the London to Jersey service in 39 the dh4 was a bomber with fighter speed and it was the Restatement of this principle a quarter of a century later which led to the creation of the fastest aircraft of its day in the world the mosquito Munich 1938 those fateful days de havilland argued with his colleagues that if war should come a valuable aircraft would be a bummer in which armament was sacrificed for speed and that wood construction would save precious time and relieve the metal industries as early as October 1938 captain de Havilland and mr. Walker approached the Air Ministry with these ideas meanwhile the factory continued building very inoffensive interface Tiger Moths by the thousand for training are greatly expanding air force dragon repeats four auxiliary air traffic and for use as flying classrooms in the teaching of navigation and flamingos Ranas a vigorous British bid for world markets for teas by the wall a crash came Germany fell upon Poland and made a brave show of bombing a defenseless cities [Music] the idea of a bomber with fighter speed with again pressed forward this was a revolutionary proposal to fly a load of bombs across enemy country with not a gun to defend yourself would you really get enough speed to escape defending fighters the mathematician said you would in the Bombers of that time armament represented 1/6 of the loaded weight remove the guns Gunners and turrets and all the extra fuel and structure needed to carry them build instead an aeroplane just big enough for a crew of two for 250 pound bombs fuel for 1500 miles and it would certainly be a hundred miles an hour faster as fast as a fighter the designers were convinced that there must be no compromise in this matter no rare guns no third crew member to be paid for by loss in performance it must be a totally unarmed aircraft the ministry finally agreed to the building of a prototype and design work began on the first day of 1948 in the secrecy of a country house the design problems were worked out through anxious times leading up to the Battle of France this is the BBC home service here is the news and this is Dirty Bird reading it a large number of British and French troops have arrived safely from northern France Allied forces are holding out round Dunkirk and on the line of the ISA the air battle of the beaches of Dunkirk raged unceasingly all yesterday while the withdrawal of Allied troops continued at dusk British fighter pilots had shot down 56 bombers and fighters 42 of these were seen to crash into the sea British fighters were heavily outnumbered sometimes more than five to one sixteen of our fighters were reported missing nearly a dozen the aircraft was urgently needed for reconnaissance as well as for bombing duties but when France fell the defense of Britain put all thought of new designs in the background and the mesquita was dropped from the program the engineer has argued that the mosquito was a special case if successful it might well revolutionize the pattern of aerial warfare it was to be built of wood and would make only slight demands on the metal industries which were being so hard-pressed improved technique in the making of high-strength castings for instance had almost entirely eliminated forgings from the design so that the material shedule showed light alloy castings totaling 250 pounds but forgings a mere 30 pounds looking ahead the ministry decided to reinstate the mosquito but it was not to interfere with the company's more serious work the building of trainers and the adapting of Tiger Moths to carry bombs as a rather pathetic last-minute measure for attacking the expected invader the Battle of Britain rent the skies [Music] [Music] in the daily air attacks only once did a hit-and-run Raider get a stick of bombs right into the works causing nearly a hundred casualties and destroying valuable materials but in the secrecy of a barn like Hana beside the old country house the prototype was fast taking shape everyone notice its resemblance to the Albatross passenger liner which surpassed in purity of form the keenest fighters and so combined speed with economy also to the earlier comet racer first british aircraft to have a retractable undercarriage of wing flaps and controllable pitch propellers the comet racer which won the Great Race to Australia flying the eleven thousand miles from Milton all to Melbourne laughs way around the world in 71 hours [Music] the prototype was ready for test by November 1940 11 months from the start of the design she was covered with tarpaulins to hide her phone from frequent German Raiders technicians liked the look of her very much [Music] yo straight hops and off she went on her first fight he was a joy to behold she looked right and she was right Jeffrey de havilland reported favorably to his father in the height of the Blitz craftsman laid out the new job every component was hopefully drawn for quantity manufacture these men collaborated with the methods engineers who contrived ingenious jigs and fixtures for speedy production but hand methods had to be employed in the making of those first wooden components which were soon to be standing up to such very great stresses the strength of the mosquito wing is in its built-up wooden spars and it's double skin of birch plywood cemented with a formaldehyde resin for lightness and simplicity the wing is made in one piece stress engineers test to destruction specimens of every main component the section of the double top skin of the wing is compressed until it fails at a loading that represents 41 tons on each side equal to 82 tons in the tests of the complete wing it could carry the weight of 700 men because the strength is largely in the skin there is very little internal bracing and this helps to make the airplane small for its low wing houses 10 fuel tanks holding 539 gallons weighing nearly 2 tons the load evenly spread across the span an owl is used in constructing the fuselage first the bulkheads are fixed into slots in the world then the inner skin of birch plywood is applied only two millimeters thick an inter layer of balsa wood is fitted next to act as a stabilizer between inner and outer skins this balsa wood is a curious kind of tropical timber [Music] it grows very rapidly and is the lightest wood in the world finally on goes the outer skin also a birch plywood this is known as carapace or lobster shell construction and like a lobster the fuselage is served up in Hearts effect which greatly facilitates the installation of equipment controls bonding hydraulic pneumatic and electric lines [Applause] the undercarriage leg is a column of rubber blocks in compression the last word in simplicity it does away with all the precision machining of the more orthodox hydraulically [Music] [Applause] the radiators oil coolers and cabin heater units very necessary for high flying are built into the leading edge of the wing so as to preserve streamline and this is helped by the fact that the rolls-royce engines have a small frontal area and a clean profile the compact hub of the de havilland propellers allows the blade shape to extend well into the spin align a wide range of pitches necessary and as a safety measure the blades can be feathered to stop an engine from wind milling if it is damaged [Music] the makers trials were completed in 79 fights during three wintery months she was as fast as a fighter tech faster than any other aircraft in the world highly maneuverable tight on the turn quick on the roll from the first there were discussions about increasing the load by cropping the veins of the standard 500-pound bomb four of this size instead of the four two hundred and fifty pounders could be housed in the same bombe and so the design load was doubled before ever the aircraft went into service meanwhile a night fighter version had been hurried forward under pressure of the Blitz the designers had provided for for twenty millimeter cannon in place of the bombs which together with four machine guns gave a concentrated and destructive fire [Music] a bomber turned into a fighter a thing unknown in modern aviation on May the 15th 1941 from a 450 yard field decided secret hangar in the country the fighter prototype made its first takeoff official interest now fully a work the graph of planned output was stepped up out of all recognition the layout was lofted for much greater production at the canadian de havilland factory engineers from the home company arrived by air organized the building of mosquitoes in the New World in the great industrial towns of Old England in hundreds of villages up and down the countryside woodworkers furniture makers cycle manufacturers engineers large and small had adapted themselves to an unfamiliar and exacting industry and were pouring out parts for mosquitoes soon there were more than 400 subcontractors and nowhere could the enemy born out of vital flow [Music] deliveries to the RAF began in July 1941 [Music] by December they had 20 mosquitoes by March 15 comprising reconnaissance fighter and bomber types [Music] with the first rough-and-tumble of active service the ease of repairing the wood structure became important grafting on a wing in from storage was a simple carpentry job requiring only plane but joints [Music] then came a string of design developments to 500-pound bombs were fitted behind the cannon of the fighter making it a fighter bomber 50 gallon drop tanks were fitted to the wings to extend the rage these were made interchangeable with 250 pound bombs [Music] 500-pounders were substituted giving the fighter a 2000 pound bomb load and the bomber version 3000 pounds 100 gallon drop tanks are now made of paper were fitted 3/4 of a ton of additional petrol giving an extra 600 miles of range [Music] early in 1944 mosquitoes went into service which carried a single 4000 pound blockbuster [Music] this development to call for only a slight alteration in the sender line of the little aircraft [Music] she remained practically as fast as in earlier life she was now transporting more than four times her original design level high altitude engines and pressure cabins became available making the stratosphere hers as well as the middle sky and the Hydra along with the design development production made progress in three continents [Music] from the home factories mosquitoes were now coming off the line in hundreds they passed the first thousand mark within three years of the conception of the design in Canada that a heaven on factory got quickly underway [Music] they are first mosquito flu within 12 months of the engineers arriving from England winter and summer they were flight delivered to the European war theater over the Arctic wastes of Greenland and Iceland and also non-stop across the Atlantic repeatedly breaking the record with x down to five and a half hours [Music] in Australia as well after Pearl Harbor the de havilland organization had been turned over to building mosquitos our friends down under also got their first aircraft into the air just a year after the initial parcels of drawings had arrived from the parent company in England [Music] exceptional maneuverability the upward roll with one propeller felon the first operational sortie was made on September the 28th 1941 21 months from the start of design it was neither a bombing nor a fighting mission a camera-equipped mosquito set out unarmed photographing enemy hovers from a height of four and a half miles with high photographic skill and determined fine royal air force developed long-range reconnaissance at plus fighter speed something which the enemy was never able to achieve all Europe thus came within the range of our cameras which brought back pictures of microscopic accuracy that defeated every ingenuity of camouflage the Tirpitz in her norwegian hideouts Koenigsberg a thousand miles from England Toronto Harbor the messerschmitt Factory at vina noises or no [Music] rocket sights photographed from below ground level with fresh lights of 700 million candlepower photographs were taken at night thus where the enemy's night movements watched throughout the German retreat of 1944 and 45 from India and Australia with round flights of 2,000 miles or more the Jets were watched in Burma Siam and Java when the experts were forecasting the weather for British and American heavy bomber attacks there are a late night final report on which the plan of operations depended was the one brought in by a lowly mosquito on reconnaissance [Music] the American Air Force built up its main reconnaissance wing on the same pattern and chose the same aircraft Obama in which armament was sacrificed for speed faces the test of reality each operational career began when for mosquitoes blond cologne a few hours after the first thousand bomber rain dawn May the 30th 1942 [Music] [Applause] from that first date where pilots could see that the best way to use such speed and maneuverability was to fly in at rooftop height where neither ground guns no radio notation could concentrate upon the technique was perfected [Music] well now that's the position of the lamp and radio works a duel monster during the run-up to the target I'm going to try and aim to the left hand side of the biggest building and I want everyone to pick it as tight as they can there and we'll all get across the target together you look out for your formation flying there smithy now I can't ever emphasize the importance of these wrecks to the journalist so I want everyone to put forward their best effort to put the bombs right in the front doorstep [Music] [Music] remember what I told you in the briefing room it's very hot today so get off as soon as you can and catch me up no one's to get below me crossing the sea and pecking tight over the enemy coast alright good luck [Music] let me guys coming up [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] home sweet home they had bombed the target the whole target and nothing but the target British radio experts are called for a fast aircraft capable of carrying their wonderful apparatus for bombing accurately through cloud the mosquito was chosen for the most important of this equipment but it could fly far fast and high without equal the Pathfinder had to reach his target maybe 600 miles from home to the minute and fly rock steady through all the flak before dropping his marker flares this British achievement of brain and bravery made possible the accurate and utter devastation of the great Arsenal's of the raw and Rhine ever shrouded in industrial haze from May 1943 mosquitoes undertook nuisance bombing at night because of their speed they lost only eleven aircraft in their first thousand sorties by the early 1944 they were carrying four thousand pound blockbusters and the big city was their favorite target by now this very small aircraft was carrying to Berlin a heavy bombers load unarmed and without need of an escort it represented a small capital asset with a small crew exposed to less danger because of its speed and exposed to danger for less time yet it carried a 4,000 pound load and carried it more frequently than the slower large bombers losses decreased to a fraction of 1% and mosquitos grew to a ripe old age on the job some of them exceeding 200 sorties night after night mosquito crews were briefed for this duty seldom missing more than three or four nights a month in even the worst weather high-altitude engines and pressure cabins enabled them to bomb from a height of six miles this was no longer nuisance mummy but systematic pounding by mosquito blockbusters flying in strength led in by their own pathfinders and up to the spring of 1945 they had delivered 15,000 tons much of the list fell on Berlin visited 436 Knights in succession the other half of the battle history concerns the armed mosquitoes after the first blitz had been broken by our bow fighters hurricanes and defiance mosquitoes took over the night defense of Britain radiolocation did wonders in helping to find the enemy in the night skies and mosquitoes now with improved equipment got busy in 1943 when the enemy sent his fastest single-engine fighters to England with a puny bomb load copying the mosquito technique but they failed because our mosquito fighters could catch these hit-and-run Raiders when the flying bomb attack started in June 1944 it was the mosquitos job to destroy these missiles by night they were far from easy to catch but mosquitoes got 625 bombs in the first and worse nine weeks later when the launching technique change they destroyed their launching craft as well [Music] [Applause] [Music] by the end of 1944 Fighter Command mosquitoes had also destroyed no less than 660 enemy aircraft mosquitoes had been on ocean patrol since the winter of 1942 seeking out submarines and destroying the long-range enemy fighters sent to Harris our bombers which were after their submarines that were after our shipping [Music] complicated struggle this Hubert Walker [Music] in 1943 the mosquito was asked to carry a 6 pounder requiring gun it was a field weapon weighing nearly a ton and with a kick like a mule [Music] this also entailed carrying half a ton of armor steel plates up to 3/8 of an inch thick to protect engines and crew in close battle with shipping or tanks meanwhile the rocket projectile was developed no gun to carry no recoil problem a more destructive missile the Rockets elbow of a mosquito 860 pandas is equivalent to the broadside of a six-inch Cruiser [Music] the anti-shipping formations were cunningly mixed fighters 6-pounders and rocket projectile mosquitoes all in one strike force to sweep the Dix and dis conserve shore-based enemy fighters [Music] accuracy is the nice feature of the 6-pounder and it fires at the rate of 25 shells in 20 seconds it was most effective against submarines and small shipping dollies [Music] speed maneuverability enable the mosquito to carry love chase into enemy harbors we had a gun fire was hottest [Music] rocket projectiles were used with devastating results against larger ships [Music] the use of mosquito fighters and fighter bombers against land targets is a separate story after some profitable trade from home bases intruder business was opened up in the Mediterranean zone just as the 8th army was driving towards Tripoli from Britain Malta Italy Sardinia later from France from India from Australia this form of aggravation gave the enemies sleepless nights intruding covered a wide scope and was undertaken by the tactical air force and by fighter and bomber commands Bomber Command used mosquito intruders to support their heavy assaults in various ways by scouring Lancaster and Halifax forces as fighter cover and by flying ahead of the main force to disorganize defenses they left around airfields and shut down the enemy fighters on their own runways from June 43 mosquito intruders working in tactical support of the RV took a little specialized method of day attack previously used by the day bombers [Music] [Applause] they didn't all get off scot-free but when a propeller I had to be feather to stop a damaged engine it was sometimes necessary to jettison the wing tanks to regain a little over lost speed with undercarriage damaged many a mosquito landed sedately on its belly in a cloud of dust and guests from automatic fire extinguishers with the main entrance blocked I've come the crew by the fanlight when the anime was being driven across France after d-day single-engine intruders kept him hidden undercover by day mosquitos smashed his troop movements by night aided by the light of flares they were out in there are hundreds night after night and brought great heaven [Music] destruction scientists serve the need of the are when the need was destruction British engineers accomplished this with unequaled efficiency and economy happier chapters will be written when this same skill is directed once again to the constructive purposes of aviation [Music]

Channel: gb5uq

Views: 684,573

Keywords: De Havilland Mosquito, DH98, millitary aircraft

Id: vh4vazBq-X4

Length: 43min 35sec (2615 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 28 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/SovietToaster14]

Proposal: Mosquito B Mk IX (dedicated bomber version)

In-game Bombload Options:

• 2x 250 lb

• 4x 250 lb

• 2x 500 lb

• 6x 500 lb (4x in fuselage with 1x on each wing)

• 4000 lb Cookie bomb (same as found on Wellington)

No forward firing weapons available

Ripping speed: 780 km/h (404 mph) (The current in-game Mosquito rips at around 730 km/h -ish)

Suggested BR: 4.7-5.0 placed after the Brigand

Think of this as an Arado B except as a prop. It can't shoot back against enemy aircraft, it just carries bombs and runs rams. Carrying a cookie in a more nimble aircraft compared to the Wellington would be interesting for Ground Forces. Picture of Mozzie being loaded with cookie

[u/FluroBlack]

Still fucking waiting for the bomber mossy...

Some day...

[u/DarkNinjaPenguin]

Crazy to think the Mosquito could carry a heavier payload than a B-17.

All that weight used up on moar guns!

[u/kuddlesworth9419]

Speaking of which the G8N1 should be able to carry 4000kg's as it's maximum payload. In game it can only carry 3x800kg's. So it should have 4x800kg's.

[u/nugohs]

https://i.imgur.com/3ltM060.jpg

[u/Verethra]

I'd really love having actual carpet bombing in WT. I really think that if this was to be implemented, bombers (and others planes) will have their historical bomb load.

[u/[deleted]]

Look historical accuracy doesn't exist in this game because it would break the game. Example: b29 is missing the nuclear bomb.

[u/landsker]

I'm sure I read they fitted one with a 32 pounder or did I imagine that?